Robaina's

Robaina's plantation

Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Emiliano Nelson Guerra (Guayabera Maker for the Famous) A Chat

Emiliano Nelson Guerra is much more than a shirt maker for important personalities. Yes, it's true, he's made the traditional Cuban garment for the likes of; Sting, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Hugo Chavez, Usher, Prince Albert of Monaco and Fidel Castro himself to name a few. But he has also helped return the Guayabera to national prominence in respect to heritage and usage. He has worked hard through the years to change people's attitude towards the Guayabera by giving it elegance and using the Cuban people's pride for country by attaching the label of Nationality to the work he was creating. It has taken Emiliano almost two decades to get to where he is today, to get the Guayabera to where it is today. While speaking with him I noted that his enthusiasm for the project he started so many years ago had not diminished and it seemed to me that he has remained humble. His storefront is a small affair and his work space out back isn't much bigger with barely enough room for his humidor....yes, Emiliano is an avid cigar smoker. You could walk by the front of his shop and not know it, if you didn't have the exact address. I didn't come to him with the sole purpose of talking with him for the Blog, I also came to purchase a Guayabera for an event that was taking place in the near future. His merchandise is by no means inexpensive but I can assure you that the quality is superior to anything else I've seen and will be regarded as a dress suit when worn in Cuba. Below is the loosely translated version of our conversation.

Me:
How many hours a week do you work here in your shop?
Emiliano:
There is no set time for me because I always have work to do. Sometimes I start early in the morning and it gets to be midnight and I still haven't finished everything I have to do.

Me:
Have you ever been asked to do house calls?
Emiliano:
I have all sorts of customers...Diplomats, Businessmen...but they all come here to see me.

Me:
Are you still involved in the physical production of your guayaberas or do you employ others to make them while you occupy yourself with the designs?
Emiliano:
At the moment I'm involved in every aspect of production. Unfortunately someone I had helping me has fallen ill and I have yet to replace him as it's difficult to find a person of the caliber to produce a quality guayabera. I've tried to create a school for women who are interested in this kind of work. I've been looking for a location with the help of the government but it's been difficult. On one occasion I even talked with Eusebio Leal, director at the Office of the City Historian, he knows my work. I was telling him how great it work be to be able to do my work in a larger space within the old city, maybe he could resolve my problem. However, he wasn't able to find a solution either.

Me:
Is this the first space you've owned or run your business out of?
Emiliano:
I have rented other spaces in the past.

Me:
Which guayabera is harder to make, men's or women's?
Emiliano:
Women's are always a little more difficult, the garments are longer and a little more detailed.

Me:
With the change that's been happening in Cuba with more tourist and Americans coming to visit, has the guayabera increased in popularity?
Emiliano:
I believe so, I've had many Senators come in that were from the US as well as people from Tampa, Florida, including reps from a fashion magazine wanting to buy some Guayaberas for one of their issues.

Me:
When you began making Guayaberas were your designs so different from the norm?
Emiliano:
When I started making Guayaberas they had fallen out of popularity. I was working for a place called "Cubana" at the time, they talked to me about doing something with the Guayabera. This was 1991, knowing that the Guayabera wasn't popular I decided to do some investigating. I went to the library to search for whatever information I could on the Guayabera. I discovered that in the past the Guayabera held an importance in the manor in which Cuban's dressed. This enthused me and made me want to begin this project. In the beginning, besides the traditional Guayabera, I had ideas to construct with different designs. I left the company I was working for to go out on my own but left some of my designs behind by mistake. They went ahead and used those designs with no recourse from my protests. My only option was to make more designs, better designs....that inspired me to move forward. Around 1999 I present my designs at the first Habanos Festival in Havana and the Association for Artisans took notice. My pieces drew a lot of attention and were shown in various Cigar Magazines. After this time it was like a revolution had begun regarding the way people viewed the Guayabera and a more Artistic approach began with it's design and construction. Places were setup at that time to teach people how to apply these finer points of tailoring to existing styles of clothing in Cuba.

Me:
So before this time the Guayabera was viewed as something of a lower quality, something everyone wore...and you elevated it a higher level?
Emiliano:
After the revolution there was a movement to breakaway from the past & unfortunately the Guayabera was one of the casualties. For one thing, no cloth to make the garments was entering the country and secondly, the Guayabera was used by the government before and they wanted to breakaway from that tradition. At the time I was asked to intervene, anyone and everyone wore a guayabera and it was thought to be something of lower quality. Restaurant workers, bathroom attendants, street cleaners.....and other such people wore the guayabera, the general populace would feel uncomfortable if they would be caught wearing one on their leisure time. Also, the government security detail wore guayaberas and nobody wanted to be compared to Fidel's bodyguard. All these little things slowly chipped away at the use of the garment among the general population. This is the attitude that existed when I accepted this project and I did it because it was something close to the Cuban culture, I wasn't interested in the politics of it all. During the years 1991-92, we decided to do frequent radio programs talking about the guayabera and have a contest about it....because we had to find a way to make the youth interested or at least listen to what we had to say. It was a lot of work, we did some television programs as well. I write songs and wrote one with a guayabera theme. In this way I kept working and creating new things and slowly the guayabera began to increase in popularity. There was a time when a dominant force was working against the guayabera but it began to be heard once again...nobody knew of it's origin and people began to take notice and ask about it's relation to Cuba. All these things that were going on at this time motivated me to make my guayabera. A turning point was when the government decreed in 2010, that the guayabera would be the formal state attire to be wore by all officials during gatherings. This meant that all foreign dignitaries would be obligated to buy a guayabera when when coming to Cuba.

Me:
When did you start using the different colored fabrics?
Emiliano:
Almost from the beginning I was using pastels as well as the traditional white and beige...using, yellow, pink, light blue....the original color of the guayabera is beige. Beige is the original color of the cloth itself and it's why it's considered the original color.

Me:
What about the stronger colours like Red and Navy Blue or the Cuban Flag on the back?
Emiliano:
The one with the flag was done for a Cuba musician who was making a record at the time, Isaac Delgado. The album was going to be called SuperCubano and Isaac had asked me to make a guayabera for him to wear for the cover. When I saw the title of the album I thought what's more Cuban than the Guayabera & the Flag, let me unify the two elements....this was back in 2011.

Me;
From the moment you take someone's measurements, how long does it take to make a garment for one of your customers?
Emiliano:
Depending on the design, a traditional one could be made in one day.

Me:
And a woman's?
Emiliano:
A little longer.

Me:
I read somewhere that at one time, when you had workers, you produced 80-100 pieces per month. Is that true?
Emiliano:
Yes, when I had 2 people working for me that's more or less how many we would make.

Me:
Is there a season when more are sold?
Emiliano:
Yes of course, when it's high season for tourism is when we sell more....but things have changed with the increase in tourism, we no longer depend on the seasons. Also, I have a few pieces placed in hotels (for sale) like The Nacional and all this adds to the increase in sales. Recently the singer Usher came into my shop and bought everything I have, he cleaned me out, left my store empty.

Me:
Have you ever been off the island for personal or work reasons?
Emiliano:
Unfortunately not for work reasons. About eight years ago I was in Jamaica for an event that was part of a cultural exchange with Cuba, Jamaica later sent one of their designers to Cuba. This was the only official reason. The rest of the times I've traveled for personal reasons.

Me:
What fabrics do you use in the production of your garments?
Emiliano:
Cotton or Linen for now. Someone in England is incorporating linen with bamboo...I'm looking into that.